The following post has been submitted by Rick Allen
Over the years Andrea Rossi has provided many hints about how the Energy Catalyzer works to produce huge amounts of power from nickel, hydrogen, and catalyst(s). One of the most important clues that is sometimes overlooked is how tubercles — spike-like protrusions or filaments on the surface of the nickel powder — are critical to producing very high levels of energy output. This seems to be one critical element of the “secret sauce” that replicators and testers need to remember.
The revelation about how tubercules are required for the E-Cat to produce high levels of power is not new. In an article posted July 11th, 2011 on the now non-functional E-Cat Report website (a link to the Wayback Machine archive page is here) the author reports how he met with Rossi on July 5th of 2011 during his business trip to Sweden. He describes many bits of information that Rossi gave him. For example:
Andrea Rossi stresses that, although one might first think “the finer the better” because the finer the powder the more surface area per volume you get, this is not the case. Because in order to reach useful reaction rates with hydrogen, the powder needs to processed in a way that leads to amplified tubercles on the surface.
The tubercles are essential in order for the reaction rate to reach levels high enough for the implied total power output per volume or mass to reach orders of magnitude kW/kg – this level of power density is required for any useful application of the process.
Rossi tells that he worked every waking hour for six months straight, trying dozens of combinations to find the optimal powder size for the Energy Catalyzer, or E-Cat. He further stresses that specific data about the final optimal grain size cannot be revealed, but can tell us that the most efficient grain size is more in the micrometer range rather than the nanometer range.
This gives us a FACT about the E-Cat: to achieve high levels of power, there must be tubercules on the surface of the nickel and the particle size must also be correct. I think there is a very clear reason for this. Research shows that tubercles or spikes on nickel particles produce very high levels of charge and electric fields at the tips which can allow for quantum tunneling to take place and reduce the barriers for nuclear reactions.
In my mind, this leads to a few questions:
First, has anyone tried to replicate the E-Cat using nickel powder of around five microns that have tubercule like protrusions?
Secondly, has anyone have ideas about how to best produce nickel powder with tubercule like protrusions?
Third, will the scientists currently conducting the test on the E-Cat provide data showing the size of the particles and the surface features?
If I were to try and guess at the recipe for the E-Cat, I’d say the following:
“A reactor with the inner surface coated with a mixture of five micron sized nickel powder processed to have spike like tubercles on the surface, mixed with a metal hydride such as lithium or a lithium magnesium alloy (as per Ikegami’s paper) to help load the atomic hydrogen into the nickel. When heat is added, the result is a small number of nickel-hydrogen reactions that may coincide with or stimulate hydrogen-lithium and deuterium-deuterium reactions.”
I’d like to point out that it seems like the actual catalysts of the E-Cat seem to be Lithium (it may have previously been another substance) and the processing of the nickel powder. My hope is that when the upcoming report is released, that it will address the tubercules of the nickel powder.
Finally, a message to the testers working on the upcoming report:
Please address the issue of the surface geometry, size, and processing of the nickel powder as part of your report! When it comes to figuring out how the replicate the E-Cat – and thereby following the Scientific Method – the tubercles are every bit as important as the isotopic and elemental composition of the powder.
Rick Allen